Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will likely be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. He has said things that are not true about vaccines, autism, raw milk, and more that we do not have to list here. Furthermore, I do not want to waste time with facts about his opinions. The health professionals who are reading this essay already know that RFK Jr.’s opinions are not supported by facts.
If …
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We’re joined by Anand Parekh, internal medicine physician and author of Prevention First: Policymaking for a Healthier America. We dive into the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring the pivotal role of prevention …
An excerpt from Disabled Ecologies.
The multicolored poisonous waste disposed of by Hughes Aircraft Company was never just TCE, the most infamous ingredient. It was always a toxic soup: dozens of volatile organic compounds and heavy metals, contaminants with names like dichloroethylene, chromium, cadmium, and benzene. The chemicals were used in the early 1950s in the manufacture and cleaning of missiles that would travel thousands of miles overseas to …
Trust is vital to the provision of quality health care. Quality outcomes have shown a correlation with exceptional health care experiences, with patients associating higher trust in health care professionals with “more beneficial health behavior, fewer symptoms, and improved quality of life.” Sadly, trust in American health care is on the decline. Stress placed on the health care system by the COVID-19 pandemic amplified growing concerns, with forty-eight …
Like him or not, Bruce Springsteen’s albums have served as the soundtrack to our lives, writing songs that are a reflection of ourselves, challenging our assumptions, and helping us make sense of our messy, chaotic lives. People from all walks of life and from all over the world have found meaning in his music. So, it was no surprise that several months prior to the 2024 presidential election, while on …
I am a surgeon from a family of surgeons, all based in Massachusetts. Throughout my career, I have faced many challenges, both in and outside of the operating room. Like most doctors, I am saddened by the current collapse of our system in general and my own hospital in particular, which is facing closure due to mounting debt owed to private equity. For the record, I have been warning my …
Voting is one of the most fundamental rights in our democracy, and yet it can be incredibly challenging. Getting to your polling station, waiting in line, remembering to request your absentee ballot, checking your voter registration status—it is not a straightforward process. If you suffer from an unexpected illness or injury and find yourself hospitalized, it can feel impossible to make your voice heard and participate in an election. Fortunately, …
As Valencia, Spain, reels from devastating flash floods and the U.S. Southeast recovers from hurricanes Helene and Milton, I, like many other parents, look at my own kids with increasing concern about the ailing world they will inherit.
If a climate haven like Asheville, North Carolina, lying 2,000 feet above and 300 miles away from the ocean, can be swept away by a single catastrophic storm, how can we possibly keep our children safe?
Scientists have shown that ocean warming due to …
“Waste is worse than loss. The time is coming when every person who lays claim to ability will keep the question of waste before him constantly.”
– Thomas Edison
The escalating challenge of waste in U.S. medicine
The U.S. health care system is struggling with inefficiencies and waste that weaken its effectiveness, thus reducing accessibility and sustainability as a whole. According to a study by JAMA, between $760 and $935 billion is wasted …
Having spent two years in Oxford as a Marshall Scholar in the mid-1970s, I came back to medical school believing in a national health service—i.e., Medicare for all. But I learned firsthand that a monopoly can provide access without ensuring quality. When quality isn’t the priority, there’s no hope for lowering costs or alleviating suffering.
Medicare is already the single payer for dialysis and has failed patients miserably. As a result, …
My parents, both physicians, embody the American story. After completing medical school in Iran, they were recruited to the U.S. in 1968 to fill the gap left by doctors sent to Vietnam. Building a life from the ground up, they became pillars of their patients and communities — and our family, too. In 1992, they became citizens, finally gaining the right to vote, and they’ve never missed an election since, …
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We sit down with Taylor J. Christensen, an internal medicine physician and health policy researcher, to discuss his health care incentives framework. Taylor explains how restructuring financial incentives can encourage providers and insurers …
As future medical professionals, we see the real-life consequences of political decisions in emergency rooms, hospitals, and clinics. Despite a growing recognition that voting is directly linked to better health outcomes, however, health professionals are voting at lower rates than the national average. It’s time that we make a change this election.
We see patients denied essential services due to bureaucratic hurdles, such as insurance coverage gaps for life-saving medications …
Recently, I interviewed Dr. David Morris, a physician in Ireland and CEO of Verity Barrington, along with Geoffrey Roche, director of workforce development for Siemens Healthineers. Our conversation focused on successes in health care in both Ireland and America, and the lessons we can share to improve the system. A critical part of our discussion revolved around the role of health care boards. Geoffrey posed a pivotal question: “Where are …
Hearing about the school shooting last week at Apalachee High School in Georgia, I couldn’t imagine the gut-wrenching pain that the victims and the local community felt as yet another mass shooting tore apart families.
The tragedy reminded me that no one is safe from the horror of gun violence. As a pain physician, I’ll never forget hearing one of my patients say, “If I don’t get the pain fixed, I …
I recently wrote an article about the problems with our broken health care system, ending with a call for doctors to help develop solutions. In follow-up, here are some possible solutions to consider before the system self-implodes. There is concern that, without any changes, Medicare will run out of funding by 2031. Here are a few things that I think could help.
Address physician burnout
It’s real, and COVID-19 made it …
In the shadow of America’s maternal health crisis, Medicaid mothers are fighting an uphill battle against systemic neglect. Many of these mothers are facing a cruel reality: the more they need help, the harder it is to get.
It is far from uncommon for new mothers in the United States to find themselves thrust into the throes of postpartum depression after welcoming a new life. Most of them, about three-quarters, …
Georgia was ranked 5th worst place to practice in a recent Medscape article (“Best and Worst Places to Practice 2024”), using five criteria: physician compensation, cost of living, malpractice premiums, the health of the state’s residents, and physician burnout levels. As current and future physicians and health advocates, this column will add context by detailing our experiences practicing in Georgia.
The article identified challenges that Georgia physicians encounter. Particularly concerning is …
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